Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) are systems in which a plurality of devices communicate to allow for the transportation system to make better informed decisions with regard to transportation and traffic management, as well as allowing for safer and more coordinated decision making in transportation networks. ITS system components may be provided within vehicles, as part of fixed infrastructure, such as on bridges or at intersections, and for other users of the transportation systems including pedestrians or bicyclists.
ITS system deployment is receiving significant focus in many markets around the world, with radio frequency bands being allocated for the communications. In addition to Vehicle to Vehicle communications for safety-critical and non-critical applications, further enhancements to proposed systems or applications are being developed for Vehicle to Infrastructure and Vehicle to Portable or Person scenarios. This includes systems to benefit vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists.
In many cases, a computing station within the ITS system must be capable of reacting quickly. In particular, due to vehicle speeds and range of communications, typically a computing station needs to receive and/or respond to communications with a very low latency. However, to achieve low latency communications, battery intensive radio components on the computing stations generally need to be kept in an active mode of operation, which may be an issue for portable devices having limited power resources.